Library of Alexandria

The Library of Alexandria was one of the largest and most significant libraries of the ancient world, located in Alexandria, Egypt. It was founded during the reign of Ptolemy II Philadelphus in the late 3rd century BC, and it was a part of the larger research institution, the Musaeum (dedicated to the Muses, the nine goddesses of the arts). It housed between 40,000 and 400,000 scrolls at its height, and Alexandria came to be regarded as the capital of knowledge and learning, in part due to the prestige of the Library. The Library's storage building was accidentally burned down during Julius Caesar's campaign against Ptolemy XIII in 48 BC, as Caesar had his Roman soldiers burn the docks to prevent Ptolemy's army from escaping. It dwindled during the Roman Empire due to lack of funding and support, and its membership had ceased during the 260s AD. In 272 AD, the rest of the library was destroyed during Aurelian's conquest of the city during the Crisis of the Third Century.